Dance Of The White Wolves

(It should be noted that scenes earlier take place Before they arrive at San Fran. It's just for story sake and background.)
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It was a bit slower then normal in the small but usually bustling city of Frosa but then again every place had its moments and this was no exception being a small but growing city. There had been many talks going on about a few issues in the realm as of late.

A beautiful womanwith wings stood in her room as she went over some various notes in her head.

The woman was Ersa Urziel and she was one of the youngest Ambassadors of her race around this area but there were many others, far older which is why she got dismissed at times before proving her worth. That was a feat itself, considering she was only nineteen even just going by human years. A few moments later there was a knock on her door before Ersa got up from her seat and opened it. Behind it was a mountain of a man in terms of stature who looked a bit older but still fairly handsome in his own, rugged way.

"Doth, I'm glad you could come." She hugged him, it wasn't exactly the most professional but it was just them and she could relax a bit more.

The tall man chuckled before gently prying loose. "I couldn't just leave a request from a old friend now could I? What have I missed?"

She felt a bit of budding dissapointment in her chest. He doesn't really notice me..

It wasn't Doth's fault, he just didn't see her the way she had wanted. He wasn't a stupid man and was very intelligent but while she accepted on some level but still. She shook the childish thoughts aside and stood back.

"Now too much, the council has been bickering still-" She continued at Doth's slight exasperated sigh. "-About a couple of things. One of them is whether or not we should officaly open borders to Earth. There are at least a few people there, but its 'at your own risk' since we have no ties, treaties or alliance with that place. There was also talks about punishing people who left to places that we aren't allied with because of the potential fallback." She mumbled.

"That's foolish and counter productive, but I can see why some of the old fossils at the council would say that." Doth said rubbing his chin. "Hm. Anymore news about our friends in the Iumia Foundation?"

Ersa brow forrowed a bit. "Not much you don't already know. Just be careful when you go out there."

"When aren't I careful?" He teased before sombering. "Not to worry we'll make sure what needs to be done, is done. If there's nothing else then I wish you good night."

*  *

Lord Emen and Lady Rasveria should be rather proud of the latest stocks.

The man in a business suit named Zeisk did not look the least bit threatening and to an extent that was the truth. He was more or less just more for his smarts and business sense then power.

The Iumia Foundation was something he and others started with a simple idea of a business of sorts, and when he was approached by Lord Emen and Rasveria who reconized His talent and the potential for their own ends he was more then happy to jump abroad.

Simply put, it was a slave trade as never seen before and far more organized and hidden. There were many reasons one may have wanted such a slave. Perhaps they wanted physical labor, perhaps for experiment or recreational pleasure but there was something for everyone. Of course, with such a wide taste, it also meant some customers were rather picky. That's why he loved the fact that not just planets but other realms(if they knew about them and could reach them) could provide Fantastic boon to them. It also helped they had collars which greatly dampened most energy types so they were easier to manage once brought in.

They were spread around as to keep themselves scarce, as well as gather their own strength slowly but surely. Sure Lord Emen and Lady Rasveria were extremely powerful and he'd rather much not ever fight them ever but they weren't invincible.

"I'm waiting Zeisk."

Zeisk blinked, then saw his customer in the building as he put on his winning smile. The person was humanoid but blue skin; it was hard to tell What exactly they were or were from. "Ah! Mr.  Kyln its a pleasure. I hope the last one was satisfactory to you, but you're here rather early. What should I get you today? Shall I interest you in something extoic today such as a supernatural? Something mundane?"

The other man frowned. "No. I'm here for a female Mystic you promised."

Zeisk winning smile only faltered for a brief moment. "I'm terribly sorry Mr Kyln but there are a myriad of complications with such a request at the time." One of the guards came and whispered in his ear before he nodded. "First, we know very little about them and as a rule we only take those that won't be missed, no high profile targets. Secondly, since we don't know how their energy works such collars may not work on them. Finally, realm travel is Much more complicated then just traveling to another planet, you understand."

"I understand why you would want old friend, but you have to understand these things take time. However, I'm sure once we get some you'll be one of the first for the VIP pass." Zeisk assured, as if he was talking about a food menu instead of actual people with lives of their own. "How about a Ralphlim as a replacement? We should be getting a few since we have a small operation in Noreal at the moment."

The other man sighed. "No thank you. I had been hoping it would be here."

Before the conversation could continue there was the sound of shouting and metal being turn in half, screams and fighting with the general panic.

"BREACH! IT'S THE NOREAL DOGS!"

Zeisk cursed under his breath. How had they been found out? We'll, it didn't matter and if there was one other good thing he was at, it was running.

It was time to leave.

*  *

Doth was frusterated with himself. He and his squad had been so close to capturing Zeisk by being quite but it hadn't gone that way and a fight had broken out. No doubt Zeisk got spooked and high tailed it out of there. They managed to get a glimpse of him running but guards had slowed them down enough to escape but at least they had a idea where he was hiding to.

 They had no choice but to follow him, he, Gadiel, Leela and Devon all came with him as a small group was thought better not to attract the most attention. Of course..logically they'd still attract some attention if they weren't careful.

"So this one of their cities.."

The dragon came from his musings seeing Leela looking around. "Yes. Though its a bit different then I thought."

"To the point, how do we proceed sir?"

Doth glanced at Devon, the Nosferartu was always to the point. "At the moment, we draw as Little attention as possible as we can. I just want to get this man and go home. We do know some things but a lot of this world we don't know."

"Should I hide my wings?" Gadiel asked him.

Doth rubbed his chin. "...I think it can pass for now until we get something, but we should later since we are trying not to draw attention." He felt a headache coming on, this was going to be a painful assignment, he could tell already.

Ross was wandering around trying to find clues into some missing people. It first came to his attention when Lost said something on the subject, all cryptic like too. Ross really didn't care about some missing nobodies, having bigger things that needed to be done, but he figured that Dave would at least look into the matter.

So now Ross found himself in San Francisco, of all places, looking for any thing that would help. He even contacted some of his old snitches to see if they knew anything. He got a location, which lead him here. He also needed to keep an eye out for other Necros that he knew were here. He could feel them, as they no doubt could feel him. As long as he didn't react to them, he would be okay for the moment.

Once they came from the outskirts of the city did Devon further think how much of a disadvantage they were at for many, many reasons which Doth already knew he was sure.

One, they had absolutely no clue where he was hiding or he had only been here briefly before getting away somehow. People like Zeisk were annoyingly hard to get a hold of.

Two, the blending in part. He wasn't stupid neither was anyone else in the squad but they did stand out sorely with their clothes alone. He guessed they could pass as..what was that word? Eccentric cosplayers. Apparently that was a thing to dress up as others from 'shows' but he didn't understand it. Nor more would he understand why people cared if a certain famous singer was wearing a certain dress.

Gossip. He thought with distaste.

Some parts of Earth culture was strange in some ways, but he could say the same about his own.

Thirdly the political climate; they were walking essentially blind without the basics of things and the like so they could get into trouble if they weren't careful. As much as he was loathe to admit it, a snake such as Zeisk was far used to adapting to this and other places due to the nature of their 'job.'

Gadiel elbowed him gently. "What's you thinking' about big guy?"

He shook his head. "..A lot. We're walking in with too little information."

"Yeah, but we don't have much of a choice. We either chase or let them get further away." Leela pointed out.

"I know but we have to make the best of it as we can." Doth spoke out, stopping for a moment. "I'll advise everyone to be careful once we get into more populated areas. With any luck, we'll be out of this world soon."

An old homeless man comes stumbling out of a pile of garbage and sees the group and sees Doth and his squad "Thank goodness! I found someone!" he says as he stumbles towards them "There's someone trying to get me! I think he's gonna try kill me!" he says in a panic "You have to help me!" he strains as he starts coughing.

Doth and the others came to a stop when the homeless man approached them. "Easy. Who is after you?"

'I don't notice anyone else around that looks out of place so far.' Devon's mental voice came. The reason being is in the bad parts of town he and others had experienced what looked like a normal homeless person turn out actually be a mugger and the like. However, there wasn't a reason to think that here but it was just to be on the cautious side when venturing somewhere new like this.

The homeless man looks over his shoulder "I think I might have lost him." he says, calming down a bit "He's got long black hair, a light brown trench coat on and emerald green eyes." the man describes "That's all I know about him, other then the fact that he's got a big gun under that coat." the homeless man says, seemingly jumping at every little sound.

'Sir. What should we do? It's not our problem and we don't know the situation at all. The longer we get distracted, the father they'll get.' Devon 'said' to Doth, expanding the mental link for others to talk.

'I think we should drop him off to the local authorties and be on our way.' Gadiel suggested back to Devon through the link.

'Agreed. He might be sincere guy or may owe someone something for all we know, still should do something.' Leela added. 'He could tell us a bit about things though maybe...?'


Doth let the group converse briefly but addressed the man. "I see. We'll, I'm afraid we can't act as your bodyguards, but we can escort you to safety to the nearest authorities. We don't unfourtnately have a lot of time on our hands. My name is Doth, the young man is Devon, the young lady with wings is Gadiel and the other one is Leela."

The homeless guy shakes his head as he starts to move away from the group "I never thought that nonhumans could be so inhuman..." he mumbles "The cops would only say I'm either crazy or drunk and kick me back on my ass." he says as he stumbles away "I guess I'm on my own..." he wanders out of sight.

Doth frowned slightly. "Hold on a moment. It's not that we won't help you, its just we're after someone who literally ruining the lives of countless people and we're pressed for time. That, and I assumed whatever authorties of this world would at least take it seriously but according to you they won't even humor it. If they won't, we'll find someone who will but in the mean time we'll be with you."

Devon wasn't sure if the man was for real himself but he had at least Thought he was in danger from the emotions expressed. He trusted Doth to know what he was doing but acting as someone's personal bodyguards would be a potentially huge time sink.

And time at the moment wasn't something they had a lot of. Though to be fair, Zeisk could disguise himself and they had no clue where he could even be. It might be possible he was somehow gone already and he just let them here so they could get caught up with the politics of this world while he got away.

He felt a pat on his shoulder, distracting him. It was Gadiel as if picking up something from him subtle. "No use thinking of things out of our control. We have a job to do but we still have our duty and they're still a civilian." She turned to the man. "Could you please tell us why this man is even after you?"

The homeless guy shakes his head "I honestly don't have a clue. He came up to me, says something, I can't remember what. I was kinda drunk at the time, then pulled out a big gun and pointed it at me." he explains "I threw the bottle at him and bolted." he finishes.

He had an idea "Since you folks seem new in town, and are helping me, I'll show you all around. It's the least I could do, right?" he offers "Oh and before I forget, you can call me 'Curb'." he says with a rotten-toothed smile.

Devon's bull shit sheter shattered on the pavement when the homeless man gave their name. He was starting to think this man really was crazy or even drunk. There was no way any parent was going to name their child a name of a feature of the land, unless he gave himself that name. Maybe it was a code name and they walking head first into a trap.

"Ah, I see, Curb." Doth said politely. "We'll, I'll let you lead the way for now since as you said we're new."

'I really don't like this for multiple reasons.'

'I understand your concerns but we'll humor them for now and keep a eye on them. Besides, we really don't know the layout of the city so knowing a bit more won't hurt.'

Curb chuckles "You must think I have a strange name, huh?" he asks "A name is just too hard to remember, so I make it a point to call myself whatever I happen to be standing next to as the moment." he explains "So, where would you like to see first?" he asks, then gets an idea "I know! I'll show you the bus stop! There's a map of the city usually by them." he says as he starts off.

A name is too hard to remember? What fool does he take us for? Devon was more irked then before but he didn't say anything, odds are even Gadiel who was a bit more trusting was finding the whole situation odd and not adding up what so ever.

If it were up to him, they'd just leave 'Curb' behind and go on their way from the get go instead of trying to get information from them. The whole thing screamed trap if the man wasn't crazy. Either or spoke ill. He really needed to talk to Doth, but he trusted his judgment and odds are he was at least thinking.

Doth and the others followed, but at the moment more then before the Draner was considering this a waste of time. Still, maybe a layout wouldn't hurt but he didn't exactly trust the man.

The homeless man called 'Curb' seemed to be a happy fellow, most of the time. He ran into some others, some called him by other names and some called him what he was standing next to, still, he matched on to his destination. The bus stop!

He walks over to the bench and points to a standing sign "See? Here's the map. Just like I said." he says. The map in question, was actually a schedule and bus route map.

Curb lets out a strangled sound as he ducks down behind the bench "It's him!" he hisses "The man who tried to kill me! He's found me!" he says, pointing to a man in a light brown trench coat, with long black hair and emerald green eyes!

As they traveled further, Devon was revising his opinion a bit; it seemed more 'Curb' just perhaps wasn't all there. While it did make him ease up a bit, on the other hand it meant his story with the man and the gun was maybe nothing then a overworked imagination.

That was until there was a man in a trench coat with green eyes, but that didn't mean anything.

Doth caught on and turned to the others. "You stay here and keep a eye on Curb. I'm going to talk to them."

Gadiel wasn't too sure about that, but on the other hand a group suddenly going up to them may set them off and Doth would be trying to figure things out and hopefully settle things peacefully.

The Draner once done, went up to the man and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but do you have five minutes?"

The man looks over to Doth "I'm sorry, but whatever you're selling, I'm not interested and I probably already have twenty of it anyway." he says.

An untrained eye would have missed it completely, but this man was definitely searching for something, or someone. He masked it very well, as if he had training in this sort of thing and anyone with very keen eye could tell, from his subtle body language, that he viewed Doth as a possible threat.

Doth noticed it, he was trained to take note of his sorrundings and the people in it after all. Since he wanted to(hopefully) solve things peacefully as long as there was no true bad guys in this story, that meant he'd have to be careful. There was something about it that seemed off from the start. To that end he wanted to show in his body langauge he just wanted to talk.

No plan survives first contact.

He chuckled lightly. "No, not selling anything.  I ran into a homeless person earlier who believes someone in a trench coat is trying to kill them. Of course they could be lying, mistaken or something else. Most people don't exactly go around trying kill homeless people for no reason." Doth paused. "It's of course important to get the other person's story first. I would just like to find them and talk on that end. Have you seen anyone else in a trench coat?"

The Dranrer was hoping the man was smart enough to realize what he was doing. The fact he wasn't saying it directly instead of calling him on the spot with other people around meant he was trying to convey a sincere desire to hear his side of things, elsewhere if needed. Of course, the stranger could be a crazy or something but even then a fight with less people would be better so no civilains got hurt.

The man sighs and turns to Doth "This is San Francisco. There must be thousands of people wearing trench coats." he points out "Do you intend to go around asking Every person you see in one if they plan on wasting some homeless person? If you do, you might want to just save the cops the time of looking for you when someone calls them and just turn yourself in." he grumbles, shaking his head "Do you know how crazy that sounds?" he asks.

Doth nodded. "Of course it does, but there's a reason I asked in the matter I did. I'll get to the point then. Earlier when me and some others came to this city, we ran into a homeless man who was claiming someone was trying to kill him. He claims that person is you."

"But it doesn't entirely add up. For one they claimed you had a fire arm and he was drunk at the time. If you intended to harm him, it makes less sense being drunk when you motor skills are hindered. Two, he goes by the name curb because they said its too hard to remember a name so he calls himself what he's standing by."

The Draner shook his head. "To be blunt, I don't think the man is well and he has a over active imagination. The real reason I'm talking and asking you is more for their sake to calm them down before going on my way. Anyway, apologies for bothering you."

He began heading back mentally frowning. It seems its as I thought and this is a waste of time so far.

The man shakes his head "weirdo!" he mumbles, then disappears into the crowd.

Curb looks around as Doth comes back "See, see! He' a monster! Didn't I tell you?" he says "But you chased him away, my friends!" he says with a grin.

The conversation had yielded what Doth wanted, and it more or less seemed Curb was mistaken or full of it. The other man calling him a werido was to be expected, but it didn't matter as long as it got the results and got it over with. "They won't be bothering you anymore I promise, so we'll leave you be soon. As I said, we have a limited time frame but before that."

He dug into his pockets and pulled out a coin, it was gold and seemed almost be made out of a cystral of some kind. "Is this worth anything in your world? Maybe you could use some as well." It wasn't much in their own world but they needed some basic currency to stay somewhere. That and they could maybe give the man a bit before they left.

Curbs eyes light up with delight "Oh thank you, my friends!" he says, clearly overjoyed by Doth's gift "I shall never forget this kind offer, your friendship and what you did for me!" he says as he stuffs the coin in his inner coat pocket "If you guys are ever dock side, come look for me. That's where I live." he starts off "Good bye, my friends!" he says with a wave before heading off.

Gadiel watched the man leave, then turned to the others. "[color=goldI think he does need  more help, but its the kind of help we can't give him."[/color]

"Indeed." Doth said, turning around as he began walking. "Let's get some shelter first, then we'll discuss our next move."

The group moved away and through the crowd, some did give some looks but it was more passing. Gadiel got a bit more because of her wings, apparently people thought she was one of those Mystics. Doth had to do a experiment to get a general idea how much(or little) their money was worth but was pleasantly surprised. As it turned out, things like gold or silver definitely had their worth which was a good surprise. Of course, Doth nor anyone else advertised this fact out loud.

They finally found a decent hotel that wasn't as seedy as the others and got themselves a larger room. Once inside Leela sat on the bed, Devon went into the corner leaning against it and Gadiel stood alert.

"I think we got suckered into a fool's errand when we went after our target." Gadiel finally said with a frown. "If you think about it, things don't entirely add up."

"I thought so too." Leela spoke up. "Zeisk is suppose to be a valuable assist right? Then why was the guarding so light? Granted it was a entire unit and not just us but it felt far too easy from what we know of the Ioma Foundation."

Doth rubbed his chin. "It does seem that way. This might seem trivial, but there's a point to this exercise. As far as combat and deployment ability goes, a refresher, what do we know?"

Gadiel cleared her throat. "The Ioma Foundation is part of a organization that has its work not just in other planets, but realms like ourselves. They use a mixture of technology, magic, supernatural energy and whatever else they can find to make the most of things. Take what is useful, and discard what is useless. We know they do a lot of tampering with genetics too."

"A simple slaver group wouldn't have this amount of military grade things to them." Devon shook his head. "I think what had happened with us is they were testing something of some sort. Of what, I don't know. I have no doubt in my mind they're building their strength."

"Yeah. I don't like how that rat Zeisk was able to get away but the thing feels more like a set up the more I think about it. It might be a good bet it either wasn't really him or they're gone." Leela mumbled.

"It wouldn't surprise me either, still no use in jumping head first. For now, we'll investigate a bit longer before turning back to Noreal." Doth nodded to Devon and Gadiel. "You two have the first night shift." The two worked well together, but that was a given since they grew up together.

*  *

Gadiel and Devon went to the roof top of the hotel, it was actually pretty quite which worked just fine for Devon. There was stars, but the city lights made them a bit harder to see. It was nothing like back at home in the farm growing up; that was the one thing she disliked about big cities in general.

"Do you think Noreal will open doors to Earth?" Gadiel asked as she looked around.

"I don't know. I hate politics, and who knows with the council but last I heard it was a possibility when things settled down here." Devon sighed. "Then you have all the independent places that are outside the influence back home. I do think Noreal needs to expand its friends even more though."

"Yeah.." Gadiel trailed off. "I'm a bit worried the effects Lady Yasuko passing may have on certain things. She's in her twilight years despite Nosferartu still looking young in old age. She doesn't have a lot of time left." She said softly.

Devon was silent, then gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing we can do about that right now, we have things to focus on. When we go back home, we'll pay her a visit I promise." Yasuko was like a surrogate grandmother to Gadiel, himself and others in a way so he understood where she was coming from.

"Yeah.." Gadiel said, then with more force. "Yeah. You're right."

"NNOOOO!!" there was a blood curdling scream in the alley just below, followed by the sound of two powerful gunshots!

Gadiel and Devon didn't know what was going on, but after hearing the scream and the gunshot they both went to investigate and dropped down below.